At least 25 dead after raised highway collapses in Italy

GENOA, Italy — A bridge on a main highway linking Italy with France collapsed Tuesday in the Italian port city of Genoa during a sudden, violent storm, sending vehicles plunging 90 meters (nearly 300 feet) into a heap of rubble below. The Interior Ministry said at least 25 people were killed and 13 injured, according to ABC news. At least one child was among the dead.

A huge section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed over an industrial zone, sending tons of twisted steel and concrete debris onto warehouses below. Photos published by the Italian news agency ANSA showed a massive, empty gulf between two sections of the bridge.

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Amalia Tedeschi, a firefighter, told RAI state TV that some 20 vehicles, including cars and trucks, were caught up as an 80-meter (260-foot) stretch of the bridge collapsed.

She said two people had been pulled alive from vehicles in the rubble. Officials said they were transported by helicopter to a hospital.

Edoardo Rixi, a transport official, told Sky TV that 22 were dead and 8 were injured in the collapse.

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Firefighters told The Associated Press they were worried about gas lines exploding in the area from the collapse.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said some 200 firefighters were responding to the accident.

ANSA said authorities suspected that a structural weakness had caused the collapse, but there was no immediate explanation for what had happened.

Italy’s transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, called the collapse “an enormous tragedy.”

News agency ANSA said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will travel to Genoa later Tuesday.

The disaster occurred on a highway that connects Italy to France, and northern cities like Milan to the beaches of Liguria.

It came on the eve of a major Italian summer holiday on Wednesday called Ferragosto, which marks the religious feast of the Assumption of Mary. The day marks the high point of the Italian summer holiday season when most cities and business are closed and Italians head to the beaches or the mountains, which means traffic was heavier than usual on the Genoa highway.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report

Cox Media Group